Another piece from Utpal Shuvro,
How Dav Whatmore guided Bangladesh out of the darkness and into the light

It was March 10, 2004. (http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/BDESH_IN_ZIM/SCORECARDS/BDESH_ZIM_ODI3_10MAR2004.html) Bangladesh had just won a one-day international, beating Zimbabwe by eight wickets in Harare. Whatmore had won the World Cup eight years before - what could this one victory mean to him?
That night I went to interview Whatmore. The excitement I was feeling must have reflected on my face. As soon as he saw me, he asked, "Why are you looking so agitated?" Three hours after the match had ended, I was still unable to shake off the excitement. I told him as much. "But it was just one match that we won," he said.
So how did this change come about? To say it happened with experience is extremely simplistic. Bangladesh currently have the youngest side among all eight Test-playing nations; their cumulative Test experience is probably less than that of one of India's bigger stars. In the past two-odd years there's been such an influx of youth into the team that they've often been compared to an Under-19 team - and ironically, the influx has been from the U-19 team.These days Bangladesh's younger fans (and journalists) get angry if the team's performance dips. I can look at it more calmly; those five years in the wilderness have steadied my emotions. Sometimes when I regard my younger colleagues, I feel that they haven't paid their dues, reporting on defeat after defeat for five years. How can they truly appreciate a victory when they haven't really known defeat?Read full from Cricinfo (http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/cricinfomagazine/content/current/story/294545.html)

Luvlee_nik

May 24, 2007, 06:08 AM

1st 2 comMENt

Surfer

May 24, 2007, 06:10 AM

Whatmore is a good coach....

BonBon

May 24, 2007, 07:33 AM

Getting through a strong dislike for the writer Utpol Babu..dhurrrrr

Protic

May 24, 2007, 07:41 AM

Whatmore is good.. but lets see how the indians gain from him..if he's selected as the coach.

Tokai

May 24, 2007, 08:07 AM

Its not eight wickets, its 8 RUNS!!!! Tareq Aziz bowling the last over!

Tigers_eye

May 24, 2007, 08:07 AM

"How can they truly appreciate a victory when they haven't really known defeat?"

1) I do not understand what is he trying to say? Is he asking us to be pessimist and not have hope?

2) Or is he saying we do not know how to appreciate a victory?

3) The title and the last sentence have no colleration.

4) He himself is saying the influx of the U-19 team who has different mentality is taking BD to another level. Why expect them tasting defeat?

I am not sure what he is trying to say. May be putting a good image of Dav to the Indian supporters was his aim. But I think they already know that. They all went through the losing streak with us. The entire world knows that. The notion of striping the test status echoed so many times that they had to know it if they followed cricket.

cricket_dorshok

May 24, 2007, 09:03 AM

"How can they truly appreciate a victory when they haven't really known defeat?"

1) I do not understand what is he trying to say? Is he asking us to be pessimist and not have hope?

2) Or is he saying we do not know how to appreciate a victory?

3) The title and the last sentence have no colleration.

4) He himself is saying the influx of the U-19 team who has different mentality is taking BD to another level. Why expect them tasting defeat?

I am not sure what he is trying to say. May be putting a good image of Dav to the Indian supporters was his aim. But I think they already know that. They all went through the losing streak with us. The entire world knows that. The notion of striping the test status echoed so many times that they had to know it if they followed cricket.
He wants us to have the same loser mentality like he and his buddy Bashar have.

gatekeeper

May 24, 2007, 09:33 AM

Good article.

Family grows-father becomes grand-father-children become parents.

betaar

May 24, 2007, 10:02 AM

"How can they truly appreciate a victory when they haven't really known defeat?"

1) I do not understand what is he trying to say? Is he asking us to be pessimist and not have hope?

2) Or is he saying we do not know how to appreciate a victory?

3) The title and the last sentence have no colleration.

4) He himself is saying the influx of the U-19 team who has different mentality is taking BD to another level. Why expect them tasting defeat?

I am not sure what he is trying to say. May be putting a good image of Dav to the Indian supporters was his aim. But I think they already know that. They all went through the losing streak with us. The entire world knows that. The notion of striping the test status echoed so many times that they had to know it if they followed cricket.

I think you guys got it all wrong. He’s just talking about the fans and the reporters of the new generation to understand where we have been and where are now and embrace our recent achievements. He definitely supports the new blood in our team that expects nothing but win from each match and he's definitely against the old blood that he called, "comes with baggage of 47 match loosing streak". I know most of his articles are not good, but this one was quite nice. I am sure some of us fans who have been following BD cricket for more then 2 decades can relate to his emotion.

sunny747

May 24, 2007, 10:58 AM

I think you guys got it all wrong. He’s just talking about the fans and the reporters of the new generation to understand where we have been and where are now and embrace our recent achievements. He definitely supports the new blood in our team that expects nothing but win from each match and he's definitely against the old blood that he called, "comes with baggage of 47 match loosing streak". I know most of his articles are not good, but this one was quite nice. I am sure some of us fans who have been following BD cricket for more then 2 decades can relate to his emotion.

exactly my thought. He was reffering to his fellow young reporters.

TheWatcher

May 24, 2007, 12:16 PM

Shuvro himself admits that inclusions of younger players made the difference in the Bangladesh team, performance wise and mentality wise. All the motivational speeches DW gave did not make much of a difference in mentality of our older players (especially in cases of HB, JO, and KM). Talents like Hannan, Nafees Iqbal, and Alok got lost in DW period (Ashraful almost got lost if he did not manage to bounce back everytime he was dropped). So, I don't see how anyone can give DW full credit for taking us out of wilderness (I have no problem giving him partial credit).

Aritro

May 24, 2007, 12:21 PM

Shuvro himself admits that inclusions of younger players made the difference in the Bangladesh team, performance wise and mentality wise. All the motivational speeches DW gave did not make much of a difference in mentality of our older players (especially in cases of HB, JO, and KM). Talents like Hannan, Nafees Iqbal, and Alok got lost in DW period (Ashraful almost got lost if he did not manage to bounce back everytime he was dropped). So, I don't see how anyone can give DW full credit for taking us out of wilderness (I have no problem giving him partial credit).

A spot on post.

I can understand TV commentators who haven't been following Bangladeshi cricket being over-enthusiastic in their praise for Whatmore, but I'd have that Shuvro might have kept some perspective about things.

Partial credit is right. He made some advancements but failed in other areas.

Sohel

May 24, 2007, 12:22 PM

Whatmore is good.. but lets see how the indians gain from him..if he's selected as the coach.

let's see if he survives more than a year first...

Sohel

May 24, 2007, 12:26 PM

good farewell speech for a good coach, beautifully written in places. "learned to steady my emotions" ... pretty... :)

billah

May 24, 2007, 12:35 PM

Looked through the article. Can't find "How Dav Whatmore guided Bangladesh out of the darkness and into the light" statement used here by Miraz.

AsifTheManRahman

May 24, 2007, 12:37 PM

Looked through the article. Can't find "How Dav Whatmore guided Bangladesh out of the darkness and into the light" statement used here by Miraz.

http://img.cricinfo.com/cricinfo/section-headings/cimagazine108x20.gif http://img.cricinfo.com/spacer.gif
<!-- END OLD SSI: /navigation/NEWS/HEADERcimag.html --> How Dav Whatmore guided Bangladesh out of the darkness and into the light
Whatmore and the wilderness years
As Bangladesh gear up for their last match under Dav Whatmore, Utpal Shuvro recalls the early days
May 24, 2007

Then I bumped into Whatmore. "Our task has just become more difficult," he said. "We now have to win the next two games." I was flabbergasted. Bangladesh had won one match in the past five years and Whatmore was thinking about winning the series?

I think whatmore has the right attitude here, I remember people at BC were hoping for some victories too... But, Utpol Shuvro is flabbergasted to dream big.